35 months - Catherine Ellis

One more month and our sweet, little first-born child will be THREE! Unbelievable. What a wonderful time in the life of our child - she seems to grow by leaps and bounds each day and continues to amaze us with just how 'grown up' an almost three year old can be!

March 9, 2012 - 35 months old

Here are some wonderful things (no there are not 35) that you are up to, dear child:

• you are 100% potty trained! Such a big girl! You've been wearing big girl panties for months and months, but have still been sleeping in a pull-up at night. You've been dry for a long time and finally your lazy Mommy and Daddy decided to grant your wish of sleeping in your big girl panties at night - and it's been two weeks and you've not had an accident yet! Mommy had a goal of being out of pull-ups at night by 3 - looks like you made it!
• you're attending a new school. You began March 1st and it's been a transition. You really like your new friends and your teachers, but you miss your friends and teachers at the YWCA. You've been such a big girl and have transitioned well for the most part. You're only a block and a half from Mommy and Caroline - and we can watch you on the classroom and playground cameras!
  
• you are the BEST big sister that a little sister could ask for! You love Caroline so much and she flat adores you - the more mobile she becomes the more bossy you become:) Imagine that. However, you've helped her learn to use her sippy cup, eat puffs and I'm sure before it's all over you'll have taught her many, many more things!
• you are fiercely independent. I used to joke that when you turned two you wanted to move out - well three is no different. If we let you, you'd run the house! We try hard to embrace your independence and love your self-confidence!
• you are pitching more fits and lots of meltdowns when you don't get the certain shoes you want, outfit you think you should wear (and yes, we do let her choose between two, but even those two are not right sometimes), food you want to eat - you get the picture. We've heard three is worse than two - we are scared.
  
• you're still a social butterfly and are quickly learning all of your new friends parents names, the cars they drive, where they live, etc. The FBI will be lucky to have you one day.
• you are very polite - we're proud of you that you have good manners most of the time.
• you love to play outdoors - the weather has been amazing the past month and with the time change it's like a little slice of heaven here on earth.
• you can dress yourself, put your shoes and socks on and are close to being able to do it all alone!
• you sleep well - you go to sleep at 8:00 p.m. and we wake you around 7:15 a.m. during the week.
• you love the number four - if we ask you how long you napped at school you will say "40 hours". If we tell you it's time for bed, you will say "4 more minutes."
• Bubbles Guppies is your new favorite cartoon these days.
• You still love music - it makes you so happy!
• you are 100% over Mommy taking pictures of you - I still try to take them most mornings during the week, but sometimes it's not worth the fight.
• you can climb into your car seat and fasten your top buckle - we're still working on the bottom buckle.
• the iPad is your favorite 'toy' - you can work it better than Mommy!
• you can talk - a lot - shocker huh? You're favorite thing to say when you might not be a part of a conversation is "let's talk about it."

Dear, sweet child of ours - we adore you. You bring such fun, laughter, compassion and love to this family - God certainly blessed us when he gave us you! The only thing we'd change is slowing down how fast you're growing up! We love you to the moon and back!

At all times and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father. Ephesians 5:20

10 months

Caroline turned 10 months old on March 15th - in a mere two months our sweet little one will be a whole year old. Time flies when you're having fun! David and I are huge fans of this age - although she is into EVERYTHING - we LOVE it! She is so interactive now, recognizes people, places and things and has a voice! Sweet C is a wee one on the move - don't underestimate that army crawl of hers - she is fast as lightening!

March 15, 2012 - 10 months old

Here are 10 wonderful things you're up to sweet child:

• pulling up on anything that is steady enough for you to pop up! Standing up is ALL you want to do these days. You work very hard every day to perfect your standing and pulling up skills.
  
• you are still army crawling - you use your knees to stand up or to sit yourself back up, but you're not interested in using them to crawl. That's okay with us - you're a great human Swiffer for the house!
• you are eating well - still on baby food, but we're moving on to table foods. You like strawberries - you tried them last night and they were a hit. Avocado - your sisters favorite food - was not a hit with you. Bananas, you like them okay. Puffs - you're obsessed! You eat three food meals a day and one snack - yobaby yogurt.
• you're still nursing - we just dropped from 5-6 feedings a day down to 4. It's been a transition, but we're hanging in there.
• your sleep this past month wasn't stellar - the first half of your ninth month was great - the past 3-4 weeks have not been. We know you're busying trying to make developmental leaps, teething, etc., but man it's been rough. We've instituted the CIO method again (crying it out, don't judge!) and the past few nights have been better. Sleep training is hard, but one day you'll thank us!
• you say Mama, Dada, ma (mine) and ba (bye). Your favorite word is Mama - not that I'd brag about that or anything:)
• you still only have two teeth - just fine with us - doesn't seem to slow you down.
• you are super laid back - life doesn't seem to ruffle your feathers - we hope this continues as we know a couple of folks in our house that might not be laid back - ha!
• you are a happy baby - you talk non-stop, smile most of the time, and giggle (mostly at your sister, we agree she's pretty entertaining).
• you have allergies it seems - the pollen came out in full force this week and you immediately started coughing, your sweet nose started running, eyes turned red - so sad. You're on Zyrtec until the allergens move on. We hope this is not a sign that you'll have allergies for life like your Daddy.
  

Oh sweet child - we're super duper blessed to have you in our lives - thank you for reminding us daily about the joy in this life. We love you to the moon and back! You keep us in constant motion - just take a look at how many shots you were moving in - it was difficult to get just one good, still photo of you!

Deciding where you are headed next ...

Oh, hey Mom!

Time of my life!

Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes ...

Sweet, sweet C!

So the child grew and became strong in spirit
Luke 1:80

Celebrating Meme

We visited Meme the last weekend in February to celebrate her birthday! It's always fun to go home and as the girls get older the more they look forward to traveling and seeing family. Meme's house is tons of fun because it has more play space and a super duper play set in the backyard. It took less than two minutes of us being at Meme's for Catherine Ellis to look at the window and declare "I wanna go swing, Daddy!"

Swinging with Meme and Sweet C

So much fun!

Lovin' the swing!

Higher Meme, higher Meme!

So we spent lots of time swinging and celebrating Meme - what a wonderful weekend!

Meme's birthday dinner with the family!

Nothing better - swinging and laughing with Meme!

Sweet C loves her some Meme too!

Catherine Ellis high in the sky!

What fun!

Lots of laughs

I want to take a minute to thank my mother for an entire lifetime of selfless giving - Mom, you're the best Mama a girl could want! Thank you for loving me, my husband and our children - we love you dearly! You have been a perfect example of the mama I strive to be every day.

Loving on Meme!

"All that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel mother. I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life."
- Abraham Lincoln

Down on the farm

I'm behind on blogging because we traveled every weekend in February except for one - lots of fun and lots of family time! President's Day weekend we traveled to North Alabama to spend some time with my Dad (Granddaddy), the Greats and Catherine Ellis and Caroline's sweet godsiblings - one of whom was celebrating the big 3!

A special treat was getting to visit with my grandparents next door neighbors and lifetime friends, the Andersons. Kat and Lec hold a very special place in my heart and I'm so glad they've been able to meet both of our girls - life coming full circle for them , I'm sure! Kat is a young 89 and Lec is a young 91 - makes me even more thankful for the time we have with them when we visit.

The weekend was rainy and cold, but we still had a great time playing on the farm. I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Granddaddy and Caroline - sweet C loves him so!

Fun in the jet tub

Pool instructions - Catherine Ellis is in deep thought

Two year old pool playin'

Sweet C even got in on the action

Kat and the girls!

Kat and Caroline - you'd never know that this was
Caroline's first time meeting Kat

Tractor fun with Granddaddy

Little windy that morning ....

All the girls

On Sunday afternoon we celebrated our favorite three year old's birthday with a treasure hunt - pirates included! It was a lot of fun to be able to attend Hill's birthday party. What a dear, dear family the Liles are to us. Many of you know the special place they hold in our hearts, but for those you that don't - here is the history: Allison and Megann serve on Summer Camp Staff '99 at Camp McDowell, the years pass by, Megann finally gets married, Allison marries Megann & David, Hill is born in 2009, two months later Catherine Ellis is born, Caroline is born in 2011, two months later Pailet is born, Megann is sweet P's godmama and great friends with Allison. Hill and Catherine Ellis are big buddies - even if they don't see each other every day, week or even month. It's so fun to watch them grow up together. So, it goes without saying that the Cains are super sad that the Liles family is leaving us for Virginia - Charlottesville - where Eric will be the Rector of a great Episcopal Church there. It has been such a blessing to be so involved in Allison's life since 1999 - though the miles may be long, the Liles will continue to be a part of our lives, because, well, that's just how we roll. Time can pass, but love keeps us together. These mamas and these children will see to it that we continue to experience life together - and thank goodness for iphones, ipads and Macs so we can FaceTime!

So we celebrated despite the freezing cold and wind - and it was worth every single second:

Allison, Megann and one bundled up Sweet C

Look at my beautiful god-daughter!

Enjoying birthday treats!

The pirate swinging Catherine Ellis - her first time on a 'big girl' swing!

We had a wonderful weekend with our family and friends! We can't think of a better way to spend a long weekend.